The man who could succeed Len McCluskey as Keir Starmer’s biggest trade union funder and political kingmaker has said he will end Unite’s “obsession” with Labour politics.
Gerald Coyne, who is standing for the leadership of the Unite trade union, said his focus would be on the jobs and conditions of over one million members across the UK.
He urged Scottish Unite members to back him as someone who will concentrate on making Unite “a trade union for the 21st century”.
Coyne, who was narrowly defeated when he challenged McCluskey in 2017, is seen as the “right wing candidate for the top union job.
Against him are lef- wingers Steve Turner, who is endorsed by the Communist Party, and Sharon Graham, who has the support of the Socialist Workers Party.
Speaking to the Record as he canvassed Unite members at the Hunterston power plant in West Kilbride, Coyne said he would continue Unite’s financial backing for Labour.
McCluskey, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, cut funding to Labour by £1 million last year in a warning about the movement’s direction under Starmer.
Coyne’s opponents have threatened further cuts which would come as a bitter blow for the cash-strapped Labour party.
Coyne said: “I am not interested in the politics of funding or defunding. I think it is student politics to be threatening to take away money from an organisation when I know in the long-term Unite members will do much better under a Labour government.”
But Coyne insisted he did not represent any faction or party and would have a “ginger beer with Keir Starmer or an Irn Bru with Nicola Sturgeon” in the interests of Unite members.
However, he said beer and sandwiches with Boris Johnson, the hospitality traditionally offered trade union leaders in Downing Street, was stretching the analogy too far.
He said: “I will sit down with managers or ministers. I am there for the members and I will talk to anyone on behalf of the members.”
Coyne steered away from commenting on Scotland’s constitutional politics in contrast to McCluskey who said he would have voted Yes in 2014.
He said: “I acknowledge there is a 50/50 split on it. I think first of all we have to get to the other side of the pandemic and see how the economy shapes up in that situation.”
“If Scotland remains within the UK is a matter for the people of Scotland not the Unite union’s leader. The electorate will decide and what Unite will be about is securing long term investment for the future and new job opportunities.”
If Coyne wins it would mean Keir Starmer will have the most supportive line-up of major unions that any Labour leader has had for decades, allowing him to transform the Labour party and steer policy at the annual conference where trade unions have over 40 per cent of votes.
But candidate Coyne is determined to steer away from party politics.
He said: “What we’ve seen in recent years is an obsession with the politics around the leader’s office of the Labour Party and Westminster that I don’t think has been healthy for the union or for the Labour Party.”
“I want to deliver a 21st Century union that is relevant to members’ needs and support. So that when they have issues at work the union is on their side 24/7 fighting for them."
For Coyne to win the union’s left wing vote has to split between two rival candidates and his team needs to convince Unite members who do not usually vote in union elections to back him.
Just 12 percent of union members turned out in 2017 when he challenged McCluskey for the top job.
In that race Coyne managed to win 41 percent of the vote, compared with 45 percent for McCluskey.
The result of the latest contest will be announced after voting closes on 24 August.
